Search the Community

I just wanted to see if anyone else is struggling with an up and down journey to their awareness/consciousness...self inquiry. I have had very significant experiences that I believe were close to understanding what this thing called "life" is all about. I have had at the most 3 weeks of unbelievable calm and bliss and being so grounded and unaffected by anything. It was as if nothing was wrong or right it just was the way it was and I accepted it all with no inner conflict or struggle. That happened in 2008 for me. Since then, I recall a couple of other times where I didn't need any more answers...I wasn't seeking anything...I understood enough. There was nothing left to learn or know and I felt at complete peace and I felt so different and I just expected to always be like this. Watching the water droplets come out of the kitchen faucet. Looking....really deeply looking at nature and appreciating a blade of green grass poking through an icy snowy patch or ground. The different sounds of birds and dogs and footsteps. It was as if I was in tune with every single thing around me and I could identify 5 6 or 8 sounds at once and they all seemed to fit together seamlessly....as if it was all in harmony, like pieces of a puzzle. Then, somehow, i'm sucked back through a vortex and within a certain amount of time, almost asleep to everything I just experienced. Why does this happen? Even though I seem to forget, I also remember at some point and I come back again to what I know and believe but it's as if I am fighting a war to try to get back to the knowing that I have experienced. This is so frustrating and when this happens, I feel like I keep failing myself. Sometimes I can go weeks without realizing that I am living a waking dream and just acting out an old story line with the same old characters in the same old play and suffering through things I have already suffered through. It's like, how can I not learn after what I have experienced. Where is this battle coming from? Can I just not stay status quo so to speak? Why do I keep losing ground and then have to climb back up the mountain over and over again?

Religion is dead. It has really lived too long, it should have been dead long ago. It has not done any good to humanity, it has done immense harm. It has divided humanity. It has given different groups of people the idea that “You are the real people of God,” that “You are special; other human beings are second class.” It has fulfilled the egos of Jews, of Christians, of Hindus, of Mohammedans – of everybody. It has created so many wars. It has killed millions of people, burned thousands of people alive, and all in the name of God. For your own sake you are being burned alive! Religion is one of the most criminal phenomena that have existed in the world. It is time that we declare it dead. But remember, every death is a beginning of something new; every death is not an end. On the one side it looks as if something has ended, but on the other side something fresh starts growing. The death of religion becomes the beginning of religio. The word “religion” comes from religio. Religio has a beauty of its own, which is lost in “religion.” Religio means an existential, an experiential phenomenon. The very word means coming to a point where you are one – one with yourself, one with existence. Religion which comes from the same root does not have that meaning. It, on the contrary, makes you split. Making you one is not its work; its work is to make you schizophrenic, to put you into a split state, to put you against your own body, to put you against your own sex, to put you against yourself; to divide you into parts, fragments, and create an inner conflict in you. All religious people are continuously fighting with themselves, because their biology says to do something, and their holy scripture says to do just the opposite. Their own being wants to grow in one way, but the priests direct them into some other way. Every religion has been trying to make you somebody else. No religion has allowed you to be just yourself. They are all afraid of your being just yourself; then their function is lost. Their function is to create conflict in you, to make you miserable, suffering, in anguish. Then naturally you have to seek help. They create the disease, and then they start praying for you to be forgiven. They are the criminals, and they are asking for you to be forgiven. And whom are they asking? There is nobody. So it is really a great exploitation by the priesthood of all the religions. They have destroyed every individual. They have made you Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, but they have not allowed you to become just an individual, a human being. You were born not as a Christian, you were born not as a Buddhist; you were born just as a human being. They have destroyed your innocence; they have misdirected your life. They have molded you into something which you cannot become; it is not your potential. This is not religio. Religio is accepting you in your totality, making you whole, healthy. And that opens the door to become one with existence. You are part of it; every moment you are part of it. You are breathing existence in and out every moment – you are eating it, you are living it in every possible way. No man is an island, we are all part of an infinite continent; that’s what I am calling existence. Religio will relax you. Religio will give you, for the first time, the dignity of being a human being, and the vastness of being part of the whole existence. Religion is dead, religio is born. Religion is something like marriage: unnatural, arbitrary, artificial, created by social convenience. Religio is like love: natural, simple. No law is involved in it; no society, no culture dominates it. Love is a law unto itself, and love gives you something that is immensely precious. You start feeling needed. You are not superficial, you are not just accidental; you are needed, you are fulfilling some essential need. Love gives you the first glimpse that existence wants you the way you are. There is no need to become Jesus Christ or Gautam Buddha. Nature does not like carbon copies. Existence likes originals. You, in your originality, are acceptable. But a Christian is a carbon copy; he is trying to become Jesus Christ, and in two thousand years not a single Christian has succeeded. In twenty-five centuries not a single Buddhist has succeeded in becoming Gautam Buddha. Is it not proof enough? You can go even further backwards. In five thousand years, no Hindu has succeeded in becoming a Krishna. It is simply impossible. Nature never repeats. They say history repeats itself – because history is not nature. History belongs to carbon copies, retarded people; naturally it repeats itself. They don’t know what else to do, so they go on doing the same thing again. Nature is very inventive. It does not create even two persons equal, even similar. There are four billion people on the earth today, but you cannot find two persons who are exactly alike. Even twins are not exactly alike. They may appear to be, but their mother knows who is who; their wives know who is who. There are differences – very subtle. Outsiders may be puzzled, but those who know them closely can see the differences in their individuality – in their gestures, in their way of speaking, in their way of thinking, in their way of walking – in small things. But the differences are bound to be there. Religion has tried a very futile experiment, and almost destroyed humanity for thousands of years. The death of religion releases you from becoming somebody else. Now you can enjoy being yourself. We can call our commune, religio – a mystery school, a way of searching for one’s own spiritual being, a way of discovering one’s original face. Nobody has to become anybody else. And you are asking me, “God is dead, religion is dead, then what is left now?” In fact, those were the hindrances, which are removed, and everything that is essential is available now. Now you can be yourself without any guilt. Now you can be simply a human being without belonging to any organized religion. The moment truth becomes organized, it becomes untrue. I am reminded of a beautiful ancient story. A newly-recruited devil came running to the master devil, huffing and puffing, and said, “Something has to be done immediately! One man on the earth has just found the truth! And if he spreads it, what are we going to do? Our whole business is finished! He has to be prevented.” The old man laughed. He said, “You are a new recruit; you don’t know – my people are already there.” The young devil said, “Your people?” He said, “Yes, my people. The priests are already around the man, and they are organizing whatever he has found. That is my way of destroying truth, and it has never failed; for centuries I have been doing that. The priests – all the priests – are in my service! They don’t know it, but the moment truth is organized, it dies.” Why does truth die when it is organized? It dies because it is an individual experience. Can you organize love? Nobody has ever thought about it; otherwise it would have died. You cannot organize love. Love is something that transpires between two individuals. It does not need any priest, it does not need any book of instructions. When I was studying in the university I used to have a roommate – he was a little bit of an idiot, just the same as people are all over the world. He asked me, “Everybody talks about the fact that he has fallen in love, and some girl has fallen in love with him. It seems we are the only two persons in this whole university…. About you there is no problem, because you don’t want anything to do with any love, any woman, because you think they will be a distraction in your search. I don’t know what you are searching for, but I am at a loss. I want to fall in love. But how to fall in love? I have been to the university library looking for a book, HOW TO FALL IN LOVE; there is not a single book on the subject. And I cannot ask anybody else, because they will simply laugh. If everybody knows how to fall, then why don’t I?” I said, “You don’t be worried, I will teach you. You just choose the girl that you would like to fall in love with.” He said, “I chose her two years ago, but how to start? The moment she enters, I become so nervous in the classroom, I forget all about love. I forget even what the teacher is saying.” I said, “Don’t be worried. I will write a love letter for you. You simply post it to the girl and wait for the answer.” I knew the girl; she was one of the most beautiful girls in the university. She had been interested in me, but I had told her, “Right now, I am involved too much in my own work, in my meditations, and I don’t think you have patience enough to wait. But if you can wait, then I can promise you one thing: the day I become enlightened I will be ready. But not before that.” She said, “Enlightened? My God! How long will I have to wait?” I said, “Nobody knows. I may become enlightened in this life, I may become enlightened in another life. Nothing can be said, it is unpredictable. So the best is, for the time being you choose somebody else.” But she was persistent. So I approached her and said, “Just do me a favor.” She said, “Have you become enlightened?” I said, “No, not yet. But one of my friends is in a difficulty. He wants to fall in love, but he does not know how to fall in love. So you will receive a letter from him. Don’t discourage him – write him a beautiful letter.” She said, “This is tricky. Then I will be stuck with that boy – and I know your roommate, I don’t want anything to do with him.” I said, “You need not be worried.” And she said, “How can I write a very loving letter to that idiot? I cannot!” I said, “Then I will write it.” So I was writing letters from both the sides. And the boy was so ecstatic! He could not believe that just with his writing a letter, love began. But then the girl fell in love with somebody else. She told me that she could not wait, her parents were forcing her: either she had to choose someone, or they would. “You are my choice, but your enlightenment is a strange thing,” she said. ”I have never heard of anybody making such a condition, that when they become enlightened, then they will think about other matters. I have to choose; otherwise they will choose. So I have chosen, unwillingly. I will remember you, but I am getting married.” I said, ‘You get married happily, and don’t feel that you are doing it unwillingly. I am responsible for making you sad, and for making you decide in favor of someone else. I like you, but as far as love is concerned, that involvement is possible only after my enlightenment, not before that!” She said, “Then what about your friend that you have been unnecessarily forcing upon me? He goes on writing every day. And you have made it such a mess that you go on writing in my name, and I have to post those letters. I read them and I say, ‘My God! That idiot!’ And you are praising him and telling him, ‘I will die without you, and I cannot live without you. You are my heart.’ What am I to say to that man?” I said, “You have simply to say that your parents are forcing you to get married.” And in India it is common, an arranged marriage. A love marriage is still not acceptable. So she told the idiot, “What can I do? I love you so much, but my parents have arranged my marriage. So now I will not be seeing you anymore, and you stop writing the letters.” He almost came to a nervous breakdown, crying, in tears. I asked, “What is the matter?” – I knew what was the matter! He said, “My love affair was going so smoothly. Every day a letter – I was writing, she was replying; everything was going so smoothly. And her father has disturbed everything. I will shoot that man!” I said, “That won’t help. You find another girl – there is no problem – and start writing letters again.” He said, “But I don’t know what to write.” So I said, “You do one thing. You go to the girl and ask for all the letters you have written to her.” He said, “What!” “You just tell her, ‘I need those letters, because I have not been writing them.’ And return her letters to her.” So he went to the girl and asked for his letters. But she said, “What will you do with those letters?” He said, “What will I do? Have I to live or not? You are getting married – I will have to write letters to somebody else. Now what is the point of writing the same letters again? I can use these letters. And here are your letters that you had written to me; perhaps you may need them sometime, because who loves one’s own husband? Who loves one’s own wife? You may need them.” The girl said, “You can have both the sets, because both are written by the same man.” He was very angry with me, but I said to him, “That is the function of a priest. I have not done anything unique; that is what the priests have been doing all through man’s history. They pray for you to God. They even bring answers from God to you – answers to your prayers. They make your prayer, they make the answers for your prayer. I have been just functioning like a priest – only the area was different; it was love, it was not God.” The priests have no function if there is no God. Then there is no prayer, then there is no holy book, then there is no ritual. The priest has nothing left. He wants an organized religion. He turns religio into its opposite and calls it religion. Religio is a freedom. Religion is a slavery. Dropping God, dropping religion, I have restored your freedom. Now you can be yourself without any fear. You can grow without copying anybody. You can just grow into your own unknown potential. You are asking, “What is left?” Everything becomes available; only blocks have been removed, hindrances have been removed. Now you can meditate. You cannot pray; prayer needs a God. Meditation needs no God. Prayer has divided humanity, because Christian prayer is different from Hindu prayer. Mohammedan prayer is different from Christian prayer. But meditation is the same. Here, this very moment… if you are all silent, it is the same silence. Silence cannot have any name, any label. And meditation is the ultimate growth of silence. Now you can be silent, you can grow deeper and deeper within yourself, searching for the center from where your life arises. The moment you discover that center, there is an explosion which is far more significant than any atomic explosion, far more luminous. The atomic explosion is destructive. The explosion that happens at your center gives you a tremendous energy to be creative. And it does not make you part of any organized cult, creed, dogma – no. It simply makes you a dignified individual, immensely blissful because you have found the greatest treasure in the world. There is nothing more to be found. In finding your center, you have found the very center of existence. You have found eternity. Now there is no death. And out of this experience arises lovingness, compassion, creativity. Even sitting silently, doing nothing, there will be a certain aura of bliss around you, a certain fragrance around you. You have come home. -Osho Taken from Bondage to Freedom, Chapter 23

Man, for two grown men who are ‘done seeking’, you both sure seem to be digging pretty deep for something. Two can tango. One is bliss.

I remember when I was in school, my teachers always told us that life according to Buddhism is equal to suffering. The goal was to never be born again in order to reach nirvana, then you end the circle of life (and suffering). I was attracted to buddhism because I find it so tolerant and liberal, it also embrace compassion which I love. But I couldn't understand this depressing view of life as a suffering event. And to be honest I can't understand that today either. Here we talk much about unconditional love, bliss, infinite awareness, the beauty of the absolute and so forth. This spiritual journey of mine and this forum has teach me how precious and beautiful life is. That's quite the opposite to what Buddhism teaches. This is hard for me to wrap my mind around, since Buddhism to me is true in every other aspect. Just this view about life as something to suffer I can't understand. Life is great, of course it has downs as well, but who doesn't want to live. Just go out and breath fresh air and you feel how wonderful and magic life is. So, how was this depressing view developed in Buddhism? Please elaborate. Thank you Namaste.

Enlightenment and pure bliss and a plesant experience A memory is a thought Functional thoughts are "How To" thoughts. How to get to this place, how cook dinner, etc. Psycological thoughts are the thoughts that cause suffering. "This is bad", "That girl is ugly\beautiful".

Yesterday and a month ago I went to a cycle breathing practice (it has something to do with osho). when we breath without any pauses between inhaling and exhaling, weird stuff starts to happen. for me, it was the shaking of my face and nose at first, and then intense energy in the palms. the instructions were "to do what feels right" whether it be screaming or moving the body. the first time i did it, a month ago, i ended up feeling intense love and crying at the end of the practice. It also healed a lot of my social anxiety. The second time I did it, yesterday, I moved my body in a pleasant way and felt intense energy throughout my whole body, shouting. at the end though, this is the most important part, I felt a very strong feeling in my upper neck from behind and on the top of my head. when i concentrated on that energy, my whole body was filled with joy and bliss, I didnt feel that way since I was a kid (while a kid I was unaware of it, that feeling faded away with time as i grew older). then it dissipated after a few minutes. today, during my morning meditation I felt a weird pleasant feeling in my tailbone and it sometimes spread from that concentrated spot for a few seconds and went again into the tailbone. my body feels pretty exhausted right now. you cant believe this shit until you experience it. all of what happened with me i connected theoretically to chakras and kundalini energy. I never really studied that stuff but im aware its a thing, and yoga is the way to go on with it. now im wondering if to study more about it. I have a ton of other stuff to do, like the life purpose course, meditating, consciousness/belief work, emotional mastery, reading books, so its hard to allocate time for it, so i have to choose wisely. I wonder if I have a certain susceptibility to the kundalini path, since just after 2 times of doing "some" breathing exercises having such amazing experiences. I mean maybe im "built" for that path and that path would resonate better with me and would give me faster and better results than the other paths. Im just speculating, I would like to know what are your thoughts on it and whether it seems like im bullshitting myself.

Okay here it goes. Pure consciousness is the ultimate subject/pure witness/Brahman/atman/absolute reality. It can never be perceived as an object. That's why mind can't 'find' the absolute truth as all it can perceive are objects(sense perceptions). Now the brain/mind is like a mirror. That pure unattached consciousness is reflected on that mirror. Thus a reflected consciousness appears on mind and everything in subjective experience (mind, body, world) lights up!! This is why when you ask the question, 'am I aware?', you get an experience of the mind, body, senses etc. being aware and alive. In reality, the brain, body, world has no consciousness of itself. NOTHING has consciousness except for pure consciousness itself. The reflected consciousness produced in the brain is making this entire living experience possible while the pure consciousness(the source, That which I truly am) remains totally unaffected and unattached. No object can touch it. Now it's funny when we say that we are raising or lowering consciousness. Consciousness is ever present, ever unchanged. It's the brain/mind(the mirror) that produces the reflection of pure consciousness depending on it's state during various times and situations. This is why when brain is damaged, the person becomes psycho/sick as if consciousness has been damaged. But in reality, it's the mirror that has been distorted and thus a 'distorted' reflected consciousness is there while the source(pure consciousness) remains unaffected. This is why we have 3 apparent states of consciousness in waking, dreaming and sleeping phases. It's because of the different functions and modes of brain/mind in these different states. But as usual the source(pure consciousness) has nothing to do with it and remains totally independent, untouched. This is why every state is a dream which has no inherent reality in of itself. The waking and dreaming states are dreams with contents while deep sleep is like a dream with absolutely no content lol. It is the source alone that lights up these states and yet remains untouched by them. Our 'precious' theories about brain, body, world are just more contents in such a dream state #When does enlightenment happen? When I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am the pure consciousness; totally free, unattached, unaffected, an infinite existence-consciousness-bliss which has NOTHING to do with the mirror(brain/mind), the state of reflection(reflected consciousness) and everything else that's lit up(body, world) . It's the 1st step of enlightenment aka a complete dis-identification. #Then what is this Universe/Creation? That pure consciousness itself is projected to create a world of myriad forms. The world has literally no substance other than the pure consciousness, the same infinite existence-consciousness-bliss that I am . When I directly experience this truth, the witness and the witnessed is merged and that's true non duality, the 2nd step of enlightenment aka a complete union. Thank you for reading. PS: I haven't had any of the two realizations myself aka i'm not enlightened yet

@Viking Bliss is actually knowing, first hand, what you are.

Hello folks, long time follower, first-time poster here. This past summer, thanks to following the path laid out by Uncle Leo (That's what we call him in my home, although he's younger), I woke up. I see and experience the unity daily and at times become so zoned out while meditating, I tear up with bliss but still have many old remnants and still have issues with the idea of a soul. Here is something that I have been contemplating off and on for a little while now, I hope I can explain my thoughts. If things are as I see them now, there is only one soul, but if things are not as they seem, I would consider the soul to be an array variable, as is used in software such as this very Forum and any program that is not extremely basic. For those who are not familiar with programming, here's a copy/paste of what an array variable is. "An array is a variable containing multiple values. Any variable may be used as an array. There is no maximum limit to the size of an array, nor any requirement that member variables be indexed or assigned contiguously. Arrays are zero-based: the first element is indexed with the number 0." By combining Buddhism with software practices and throwing nonduality out the door (or at least seeing the soul as a many-sided coin as the base of everything), perhaps the soul can be considered an array variable. All of our thoughts, experiences, and actions are smaller variables which accumulate over time and become a part of the larger variable -- the array/soul. The first element "0" could perhaps represent our birth/death/purpose/anything of utmost importance to the variable. When the functions that make use of this variable end (this existence), the variable would either be wiped clean and freed up, or recycled and embedded into a new function. This could explain both transcendence and reincarnation. This idea might not be a new concept but figured I'd share my thoughts and say hello to you fine people. Hello! How ya dooooooooooin?

Thank you for the effort of reading that! No, I haven't had breakthroughs. Not beyond 'oh wow, I can really calm down / experience bliss while sitting still (sometimes)', which certainly was a personal breakthrough for me. I do have a daily meditation practice, but it's just 20 min in the evening + I recently added a breathing exercise in the morning. I haven't done psychedelics. I don't know where I would get mushrooms or some milder drug, but to be honest, I haven't searched. It's both the illegality and the riskiness aspect that's holding me back. (Ironically, a bufo alvarius/5-meo ceremony would be legal, but I've been advised on this forum NOT to start with that directly.) But I plan on doing a holotropic breathwork session soon, which should be similar to psychedelics with the breather being somewhat more in control. I already thought that finding my calling could be a good intention for that, but of course I don't know if I can get an answer there or not. Are you suggesting that one's life purpose cannot be really found without breakthroughs into the nature of self?

I just wanted to share this tip, which was revealed for me on the 'spiritual path', for people who are struggling with their LP and for everyone really. For me now its more obvious than ever what is hero's journey really, what is higher calling, why life is about sacrifice, and love, and why people are so hungry for meaning and high purpose in life. Basically, everyone was born with specific task/mission/purpose in life. You seek purpose and higher meanings because God makes you to seek it. All of your given talents, inclinations, main interests and FEARS, especially those that come from childhood - all that were given to you not by mere accident, but by purpose. Your specific mission is dependent on having tools such as your talents and deepest interests, and it has to do with your specific fears which will direct you on the path. You need to find your LP within your soul/higher-self/your inner teacher, its already there inside of you, just calm down all of your thoughts and desires (ALL OF THE DESIRES) to be able to see it. And when you will experience higher calling which will come from your soul, you will eventually start to see how your whole life and your personality and all the dots connect with each other. It won't be rationalizing but intuitive understanding. This calling isn't some desire to create nice life, it actually doesn't feel like desire or even like typical life goal. Its coming from your heart, so it doesn't have flavor of desire, but it has flavor of huge sense of commitment, as if you are being pushed to do it, and deep need to sacrifice yourself for this mission. Yes, you were born to sacrifice your life to work towards this purpose. Thats your redemption of having gift of life. Literally, after your doubting mind will calm down you will feel more and more that you are ready, in some sense, to give out your physical life, your own ambitions, all the time you have left with, just for this mission. And this purpose has nothing to do with fulfilling your own ambitions and reputation. Moreover, its likely that you won't receive any praise, goodies related with your self-image and understanding of other people. Rewards will still drive you and hopes for the better future too, but they will be secondary coz your main reward is immediate, it'll be in the moment of doing your thing. Its not your typical sense of passion, drive or motivation, its much more subtle, calm and fulfilling. And now all the sufferings of life will be handled better and make some sense, they will be justified. Now you will really grow, understand life, have joy and be a hero. Hero has troubles and demons to kill and tasks and responsibilities, but he has deep fun and joy and love in doing all of that. Learning how to be happy in the midst of misery - that is one of the greatest wisdom that hero myths taught us. Moments of fear and slaughtering dragons are no longer meaningless like before. Now things have eternal meaning. In the beginning you will think that you are saviour of the world or hero, but soon you will drop any egoic ideas about your self-importance. You will just do your thing day by day, following whatever your intuition, heart, soul tells you to do, without looking too much into the future. Your soul won't tell ya future, but it can be your guide in the present moment. And, unlike your brain, it doesn't make mistakes. Think about Christ, he died, might seem unfair, but it wasn't mistake or for nothing. It was fair and meaningful. So devote yourself fully to your intuition and soul, they won't make mistakes. You will find the greatest freedom in being slave of God, however uncertain it might sound. And faith will come to you spontaneously. You will see that you are ready to live in solitude, with patience, without material goodies, ready to suffer just for this mission. And well you won't necessarily die like Christ because in modern days its usually not about putting yourself in dangerous situation. But you certainly will feel constant series of ego death and resurrection, because its essential for you to grow. This mission has to do with something which isn't you, something beyond yourself, usually it is specific task that you do for the good of other people. And its usually has to do with combination of your biggest love and interest in life + 'uplifting humanity' or survival of humanity. Which made me to think that human evolution itself is a part of this same force. Evolution is God's plan for the better future or heavenly future of humanity which won't happen soon, but you can make it a bit closer coz you are playing your role in it. Heaven on Earth - thats God's goal, believe me or not. So the reason of your unnecessary or inauthentic suffering is that you still didn't accept that calling. And your whole life is a sequence of same signs that point to this same thing. And life will break your heart, make you suffer and feel empty unless you finally accept that calling. There's phrase: God breaks your heart until you learn how to keep it open all the time. Mind will always talk about meaninglessness of all this staff, and that its bullshit and reality is an infinite playground and doesn't exist, and make you to think about having pleasures and having fun and doing whatever you desire. Thats devil's advocate. And thats the whole trick and the whole game. Thats ying-yang. The whole point is to learn how to harmonize mind and soul. Have a sense of playground and fun with responsibility and purpose. Meaning and purpose aren't from mind and for mind, its from soul and for soul. Meaning and purpose isn't verbal, its subtle feeling. Its beyond words. Thats why life is meaningless and meaningful in the same time. Meaningfulness is feeling or higher feeling, not justifications and rationalizations. Meaningfulness is something we can feel, not think. If we think about life then sure we'll come to conclusion that its meaningless and purposeless. But think about it, so what if it doesn't exist? So what if its a dream? Thats all we have, whats your argument really? Non-existing dream is only reality, so be it. It doesn't mean that there's no meaning in this non-existing dream, see? Thats precisely the whole point of having manifested reality, God telling stories to himself. Everything is information, and information is inherently has meaning. Your DNA is a meaning in itself, code is meaning itself. Music is meaning itself. Forms are meanings itself. Its not rational and verbal, its completely irrational and non-verbal. First and foremost its a sense of meaning and purpose or lack of that sense, while rationalization of meaning or no meaning comes after. Animals do have sense of meaningfulness, thats why they try to survive, they just don't rationalize it. If you are tricked by mind you will go and fulfill your sensual desires and dismiss calling, but then life will hit you over and over again. God is so fair, you don't yet imagine. Once you learn rules, the idea is clear: to be observer and participant of the story, both in the same time. Kids listen to fairytale and in the same time they imagine that they are inside of the story. So your task is to be both storyteller or story-creator and story-iistener or story-observer. Good thing is that the more able you to follow your mission the easier, more effortless life will be. Everything you need for this purpose will be provided to you without much hustle. You might think its by accident, but no, its God leading you. And the best thing is that your purpose will have to do with things that you love most in your life. You love them not by accident, you were born to love these things. And these things are not always fancy or popular for others. This is what Jo Campbell called as follow your bliss. He loved to read myths, and in the end it was his purpose, to write about it, and now the whole world benefits from that. Is it fancy, profitable or cool thing - to read myths? Nah, but he loved it. LP is what you like to do when no one looks at you. So it can be really nice thing, its sacrificing your made-up desires, ideas and purposes for the sake of your real purpose. Of course, you might want to start with your made-up purpose first and it can lead you to real purpose. But anyway, you should calm down your mind and listen to your soul/heart/higher-self, however vanilla it might sound to you. There is master Yoda inside of you! He knows what to do. Find him. Start with questioning your whole life from your very birth, start questioning meaninglessness of short-term existence of human life, meaninglessness of accumulating staff and money and career and pleasures. And start moving towards eternity, make eternity your end goal, and meditate.

Experiencing peace Feeling like a child again No fear A sense of having arrived home -- self-realization No need to know or to do A feeling of oneness A feeling of acceptance A feeling that one must die in order to properly live Appreciating reality as a magical experience -- this is what comes off as love and bliss

What remains when all judgement is gone? All is isness, all is this. The fullness of life awareness and bliss. Breathe deep, Peace!

I read somewhere this concept about our relationship with fear and how we should follow it (with common sense, not like jumping from the third floor or something). Often those moments make us grow a lot and isn't uncommon that our passions are born from those things that scared us more and we did it anyway. I am having some kind of intuition about taking acting classes and it scares me a lot. For sometime, I started to appreciate the beauty of work that actors do, I mean, think about it, they have to completely say "fuck my ego/self image" and cry on command or scream or something that would be almost unthinkable for most people and do it in front of an audience(sometimes, millions of people). So, for sometimes, I caught myself thinking about, things just presented to me. I was a extroverted kid but with life, a lot of traumas came also and slowly I became really shy and introvert,i made a huge effort to beat this and I am proud to say that i evolved a lot, I even learned game ( doing cold approach, talking with a lot of people and flirting with lots of beautiful women completely sober) and its a passion for me, the feeling of social freedom I gain from this is simply pure bliss, especially coming from I guy with a history of social isolation and bad references with girls. I did a mushroom trip about 10 days ago and during this trip I also had the feeling, intuition (not something I feel or follow frequently) that acting classes could be my next path. The thing is: I am horrified just to THINK about the possibility of acting, I can't even imagine how I would do anything that an actor does (and I admire them a LOT for doing it). So, my question is, there is some wisdom in following the fear and intuition? I would love some personal examples.

All people are grey, a mixed bag of white(God) and black(Hell)! (metaphorically speaking) What people don't know is that the good feelings in life comes from themselves exclusively. And analogy, the bad stuff in life comes from the outside, from the world. People love relationships, material goods etcetera, but people just project their own love and happiness on to those objects. They don't realise that it's not the objects and other subjects that deliver the happiness, love and beauty to them. It's themselves that deliver those positive feelings. Or rather, they already ARE that happy state in their core. Peel of the worldly garbage that has infiltrated your soul, and you will become that CORE!! But instead, people project those happy feelings on to these objects/subjects and wrongly give credit to them, not themselves, for the joy and happiness in their lives. That's why people continue to chase things they want(think they want) in their lives, when they really only want themselves. The world on the other hand, won't let you to be yourself fully. And the more you chase things in the world(chasing yourself), the more unhappy you become. The more dark grey your soul-colour become. The more dense your soul become. Do yourself a favour, find out for yourself that you already have all the joy, happiness, love, bliss, beauty inside yourself, you ARE that. Then you can use the world to SHARE that, not to CHASE that. BE/KNOW YOURSELF AND BECOME LOVE. BE/KNOW THE WORLD AND BECOME A MISERY. SONG: This world is just illusion always trying to change you!

We hate these words by now, but its true nevertheless... ...we are infinite oneness, infinite bliss and happiness, infinite love and beauty, perfect wholesomeness. Isn't that great? Deep down, the truth of who we really are is always perfect, almost too much of positive emotions, pure love. Now, as a contrast, we have the capacity to forget about our true nature and become derivatives of ourselves. All of a sudden we experience something different then ourself, we experience separateness. And as separate entities (although illusionary), we experience sex, hate, fighting, competition, art, science, literature, humor, sport, music, power, laughter etcetera And when we are fed up with this duality game, we can trace ourself back to our true nature, just as we do here. And start remembering our true nature again. And once again, when we are "fed up" with the frictionless perfectionistic nondual bliss that we are in essence, we can decide to forget ourself yet again, just to play yet a new game of separateness! Wow, this is too good to be true, it's even better then "too good" because we can transcend that "too good" to play these partly suffering games of duality in order to have a certain dynamics to our lives experiences through out eternity. Words of wisdom presented to you by the temporary separate mind of Markus from the illusionary country of Sweden.

To start off I must say that I am not enlightened anymore and therefore extremely prone to misconceptions and mind traps when talking about this subject. Background: I was always a very skeptical person throughout my life. Have been an atheist for my entire life and was also extremely deep into physics but also loved philosophy. With that said, for someone who has never experienced any sort of awakening before all this meditation and spiritual growth all seems like new-age hippies bull. I had not studied this concept before and even watching Leo I would avoid any spiritual video because they seemed so far off. How it happened: I have a very special connection with music, I play the piano and the guitar and have meditated (without realizing what I was doing) pretty much my entire life. I have had visual hallucinations before, euphoria and bliss using only music, no drugs or anything. So this particular time I was listening to my favorite song and was doing this extremely profound and deep meditation with it (again without even realizing it's meditation) when I just caught myself not existing anymore, I was so into the music that I had literally forgot about my own existence, I had killed myself without knowing. I open my eyes, looking at a white board and was extremely confused. Then it hit me as an spontaneous insight: "The self, what a preposterous concept" Still confused a bit, repeated it to myself once more and it was at that exact moment that I had awoken. What happens next the lower self cannot explain or understand, but I'll do my best to share as much as humanly possible on this strange subject. I was everything in that room, literally, physically speaking. The floor, the dust, even the sounds. I didn't exist at all. I was nothingness, also literally. It was a moment of infinite bliss, a pleasure that is beyond any sensation a human can experience. Take all the good feelings in humanity's entire existence and it would still not even be close to this feeling. Awareness is everything that exists. Not as in consciousness, as that concept is too deeply enlaced with brains and human minds, but literally awareness. It is all that exists. It's funny because on a day to day life whenever we try to think of "god" and such metaphysical, airy ideas, we always approach it with flawed concepts like time or physical presence/influence or even with science that strives for perfection and evidence cannot find awareness for it is not a physical phenomena. My awakening experience was very profound, but was far from complete. I saw some facets of the truth but not all of them: -I grasped what reality is, I became aware of awareness (which I guess is a must for any awakening experience) -I understood nothingness -I felt infinite "love" in lack of a better word- -I did not understood the infinite self part. I knew I was everything that existed but I couldn't see it infinitely, I did not see it as finite either, couldn't really grasp infinity no matter how much I tried -I knew it. I simply understood life. -I was confused about other people existing, I knew for a fact I was literally them, but shouldn't have I become omniscient of their feelings and lives? Very confusing -I was in paradise, so when I came back I got a bit depressed I wasn't there anymore -I laughed so much thinking back to all my humanly problems or anyone's problems really. Even though I have no idea why (since I don't see the truth anymore) I still remember many insights and not a single problem exists. The devil exists though, and Leo understood this very well, it is you, who reads this that creates all the issues in the world. (I can't grasp this truth, it sounds super bs writing this but I believe my enlightened self's memories and notes) -Also ultimate certainty of what I saw. Some people are afraid of illusions and traps or scared that once they see the truth they won't know it it's just another trap. It's impossible to have this experience and not understand it's legitimacy. If you think you had an awakening and had the slightest of hesitation then your ego is creating a very sophisticated trap. There are so many things to write. This changed my life and it's so strange because I don't even believe in life or death anymore. I'm sharing this, and also asking for help attaining this experience again. I feel cursed with the ego now that I have been in paradise and I'm desperate to see reality again. Thanks for reading, remember to be open-minded and kind, I'll be sure to answer any questions presented here.

I am one of those people who love to use their time on the train for meditation. It's the perfect place, especially if the train is somewhat empty - Because even the mind knows - now we are in the train for so and so minutes - we cannot do anything else - now we can finally be fucking still and surrender to it!! Yesterday, I managed to completely relax by following my breath and something amazing happened - more than once. I was sitting there... hands on my lap, closed eyes... taking a deep breath and holding it once in a while, but then normalizing the breath so that it is not forced, but still through the diaphragm. I was with my back against the very comfortable seat and I was also doing two other types of meditation in between breath awareness - noticing emptiness and noticing the body sensations. At some point I got so still that it was like my body started to vibrate at the stillness frequency, I felt complete peace and BLISS and in the blackness in front of my eyes I could see emerging beautiful vibrating darkness - I can't really explain it, but I know one thing - it was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L . I could feel my feet - such a grounding sensation, very physical, very blissful. My entire body felt like a rock - I didn't feel the need to do anything - it was perfect as it is. My cup is empty, I have nothing in the material world almost and this type of experience shows me the spiritual teachings are not for nothing. I could reach that level of stillness about 5 times during that journey and also before I got on the train while I was waiting on the very comfortable benches. It seems that this level of stillness requires certain type of comfort and security on the side of the environment, at least for me . It feels like such stillness cannot be had in hell (a place where people/entities would not leave you alone when you close your eyes - yeah that's my definition of hell) , but is very possible in heaven (the place where they do leave you alone when you close your eyes). 10/10 experience, would try again. Now I know some of what Eckhart meant by Stillness Speaks! Peace!

I had this fear from age 5-7. Now it came back to paranoic extents, big time paranoia (i'm 23). I don't want to get older I guess. for me Its a mystery why I am afraid of that. Maybe its lack of self-worth,I have a fear that I may not be able to find my female half to spend life with because I will get too old too soon. actually, i think thats the main reason on the surface, and i have no idea what might be underneath that. Its just paranoia i'm happen to cling upon I agree we have to do our things and follow our bliss, and stop all the neediness. I'm slowly overcoming this fear..

@Shanmugam Did you really just compare Trump to Buddha to 'prove' something? That's hilarious! Haha I cannot speak for anyone else that questioned the obvious dualism in what you are 'teaching' but I am well aware of what you are talking about and why you view it that way. Although, it's not terminology that is being questioned, it's the inability to recognize any other experience other than your own as being valid. The real heart of this discussion is about your insistence that there is a binary type of on-off or is-isn't nature to enlightenment without any degrees or levels to the process of awakening. There is no line of separation to cross that Trump turns into Buddha with awakening, enlightenment transcends all absolutely and infinitely but it is our awakening to it that is the change, 'enlightenment' is constant. This change for some may appear like a light bulb turning on starting in a very dark place before and in an instant the change is so extreme the awakening is an intense realization so the experience of that awakening is dramatic. In others the awakening is like lighting a single candle first in one spot, then in another candle in another spot and keep lighting candles all around consciousness that eventually the whole consciousness is illuminated so the experience of awakening is gradual. Are there thresholds of awakening that certain realizations can become manifest in our consciousness? Absolutely. Are there thresholds of awakening that self suffering dissipates so peace/bliss permeates our being? Absolutely. Whether it happens dramatically or gradually there is no line of separation drawn between enlightenment and our consciousness. The only line that would be drawn is in our mind and this is what prevents us from realizing the awakening of enlightenment.

A wise man who spent his whole life in spiritual communities finally reached enlightenment. That man, now in old age went back to the streets of his youth! He walked the very same street he use to walk after school, the birds were singing in the same way, the air was blowing in the same way making the leafs of the trees sound the same way. He noticed his consciousness was the VERY same as when he was a boy, it was the exact same existential awareness. For one milli second he ask himself.. What, nothing changed, my consciousness is not higher, not more pure then it once was in my youth. Shall I be disappointed? Did I waste my whole life with all this spiritual non sense? The very next second, it hits him. Well, there is actually one thing that differs. In my youth, I thought there was MUCH more to this. Now I know there is NOTHING more to it. He continued to walk.. slowly.. tears went down his chin. He burst out to tears. Almost as if his heart couldn't handle all the bliss and beauty although there was sadness to it as well. Which one state did you prefer, one man asked him, although it was the exact same conscious experience. The state when he thought there were much more to it as a kid, or the state of today when you know there is nothing more to it? He answered - I prefer it the way it happened, I never raised any consciousness, never find higher awareness. It was always infinite. My spiritual journey only added another interpretation of it. And if that interpretation went from "This is nothing, to this is everything, what more can I asked for?" Do you understand this metaphor Emre?

@Kevin Dunlop , part of it is giving up this idea of pleasant and unpleasant. As the Hsin Hsin Ming says (one of my favorite little books): Like and dislike is the disease of the mind. When the deep meaning (of the Way) is not understood the intrinsic peace of mind is disturbed. Reality is bliss...there is no side that is blissful and a side that is not. When this is realized, this is "how do we stay on the blissful side of reality."

Freedom is what you want, that is true bliss, better than the best sensation you can imagine Chasing good sensations or a good self image, that is only misery

@snowleopard not really, I see that absolute reality on the deepest level cannot be explained and I agree. My question is based in the world of concepts, which is obviously not the deepest level, yet still very much relevant (think of medicine / science / "optimization" of situations / solving of "problems" and the like (also the only reason that people use this forum (or any) is because they discuss concepts of some kind)). To rephrase my question: instead of the mind happening within consciousness, why can't consciousness happen within the mind or in other words why can't consciousness be the subset of the superset which is the mind (mind > consciousness)? I know that in theory one could just meditate 24/7 and bliss out on being, but here, I am interested in understanding the concept.

@Shanmugam I had just written a detailed reply but decided to erase it because it's pointless to dissect all the statements you have made when it all revolves around the same thing. You put so many limitations with can'ts and don'ts on enlightenment, absolute and infinite that it's so funny... limitations on the infinite! Really? Then call it "truth"? Haha! The absolute infinite has absolutely infinite potential, it's our own limiting beliefs that create a narrow path to realizing it. Separation dissolves in awakening to this simple "truth" and is pure love, joy, peace....bliss